Article: Arctic 5 cities and COVID-19 pandemic - Change in visits to retail and recreation places
In many countries, including Finland, Sweden and Norway, governments have decreed various types of lockdown policies to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These restrictions have affected how people spend their free time and what places they visit. Google Community Mobility Reports provide interesting data that can be used to evaluate the effect of these restrictions.
The article describes change in visits to retail and recreation places in Arctic 5 cities. Retail and recreation category consists of places like restaurants, cafes, shopping centers, theme parks, museums, libraries and movie theaters. The data show that the long-term pattern of visit to retail and recreation places is quite similar in all of these cities.
The article broadens the analysis which has been done in an earlier report. The COVID-19 pandemic has been first and foremost a health crisis, but it has had a severe negative, asymmetric impact not only on individuals, but also on communities and regions. Arctic regions are no exception. The report written by regional economists from the universities of the Arctic 5 cities provides a review of the economic impacts as well as the recovery processes of the COVID-19 pandemic in these cities.